Packer Central

Packers Take Tight End in Jeremiah’s Second Mock

NFL Network draft guru Daniel Jeremiah gave Aaron Rodgers (or Jordan Love) a sure-handed target in his new mock draft.

Bill Huber

Packers Take Tight End in Jeremiah’s Second Mock
Packers Take Tight End in Jeremiah’s Second Mock /
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – In a new mock draft from NFL Network draft guru Daniel Jeremiah, the Green Bay Packers wound up with prolific Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid.

“Kincaid is one of my favorite players in the draft,” Jeremiah wrote. “I think he’s the most dynamic pass-catching tight end in the class.”

The Packers could have an enormous hole at tight end depending on the free-agent futures of pass-catching Robert Tonyan and run-blocking Marcedes Lewis. Tonyan, coming off a torn ACL, caught everything thrown his way but didn’t make many explosive plays. Among tight ends, he ranked 13th with 53 receptions but 24th with 20 first downs.

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein compared Kincaid to Zach Ertz.

“Kincaid is a fluid route runner with the athleticism and play speed to create mismatches against lesser coverage,” was part of Zierlein’s summation. “Impeccable ball skills and sticky hands allow him to tilt 50/50 contested throws in his favor. He lacks the play strength and technique to work in-line, but can handle some positional blocking in space from time to time.”

Kincaid was the choice over Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer, who as the second tight end off the board landed in Cincinnati.

In four collegiate seasons – two at San Diego and two at Utah – Kincaid finished as the active leader among tight ends with 2,484 receiving yards and 35 touchdowns. He was a third-team All-American as a senior with 70 receptions for 890 yards and eight touchdowns. He had just two drops.

During his two seasons at Utah, he caught 14-of-20 passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield, according to PFF.

Kincaid played only one year of high school football – and that was only at the urging of some of his classmates. Not that catching a football was new. He played some acrobatic games of catch with his father.

"We had a trampoline in my backyard so I would dive and catch the balls he threw to me," Kincaid told Pac-12.com. "Three drops and we were done, but the better I got at catching that became two drops, then one drop."

With the other NFC North picks, the Bears took a pass rusher, the Lions took a pass rusher and quarterback and the Vikings landed a cornerback.

In Jeremiah’s first mock draft, he sent a top pass rusher to the Packers.

More Green Bay Packers Offseason News

Grading the Packers’ 2022 draft class

100 Days of Mocks series: Pass-rushing defensive lineman in two-rounder

Derek Carr’s not necessarily the Jets’ backup plan to Rodgers

You didn’t know this first-round receiver history

Stay of Go: Randall Cobb

Stay or Go: Corey Ballentine

Stay or Go: Adrian Amos

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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